-COMMENCE PRAYER
-By: Charles Swindoll

~~The plane was headed for New York--a routine and normally very boring flight. But this time it proved to be otherwise.

As they were on their descent pattern, the pilot realized that the landing gear was not engaging. He messed around with the controls, trying again and again to get the gear to lock into place...without success. He then asked ground control for instruction. As the plane circled the landing field, the emergency crew coated the runway with foam and fire trucks and other emergency vehicles moved into positition.

Meanwhile, the passengers were told of each maneuver in that calm, unemotional voice pilots do so well. Flight attendants glided about the cabin with an air of cool reserve. Passengers were told to place their heads between their knees and grab their ankles just before impact. There were tears and a few cries of despair...

Then, with the landing only minutes away, the pilot suddenly announced over the intercom: "We are beginning our final descent. At this moment, in accordance with International Aviation Codes established at Geneva, it is my obligation to inform you that if you believe in God you should commence prayer."

Scouts's honor...that's exactly what he said!
~~~~~~~

--He Hears Your Prayers
-By: Max Lucado

Derek Redmond, a twenty-six-year-old Briton, was favored to win the four-hundred-meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semifinal heat, a fiery pain seared through his right leg. He crumpled to the track with a torn hamstring.

As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would later say. He set out hopping, pushing away the coaches in a crazed attempt to finish the race.

When he reached the stretch, a big man pushed through the crowd. He was wearing a T-shirt that read "Have you hugged your child today?" and a hat that challenged, "Just Do It." The man was Jim Redmond, Derek's father.

"You don't have to do this," he told his weeping son.

"Yes, I do," Derek declared.

"Well, then," said Jim, "we're going to finish this together."

And they did. Jim wrapped Derek's arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. Fighting off security men, the son's head sometimes buried in the father's shoulder, they stayed in Derek's lane to the end.

The crowd clapped, then stood, then cheered, and then wept as the father and son finished the race.

What made the father do it? What made the father leave the stands to meet his son on the track? Was it the strength of his child? No, it was the pain of his child. His son was hurt and fighting to complete the race. So the father came to help him finish.

God does the same. Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

--Stretched Out in Prayer

“… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” - James 5:16

These words, 'effectual' and 'fervent', literally mean “stretched out.” The idea is of a horse jumping over a barricade, stretched out as he leaps. Or it’s like an athlete who’s running for the gold, and he bursts for the tape and stretches himself out for the goal. James says that’s the way we are to pray. Our prayers are to be on fire! They’re to be stretched out, and I don’t mean stretched out on your bed half asleep. We are to be striving for the goal. We’re to be eager, earnest, fervent, and impassioned in our prayers. God forgive our cold, lukewarm, milk toast, take-it-or-leave-it type of prayers.

When we give without sacrifice, pray without fasting, witness without tears, is it any wonder we sow without results?

How God has convicted my heart as I’ve studied the book of James! I’ve had to bow my head, confess my sin and say, “God, forgive my cold, lukewarm, indifferent prayers. May I learn how to pray effectually, fervently, as James taught us to pray.” What does James mean when he talks about the conditions that we should meet? He’s talking about the intensity of the asking. That’s the kind of prayer that brings results.

--Adrian Rogers ~~